What is space weather?
Why does space weather matter?
The term ‘Space Weather’ refers to
the conditions in space which can
affect us here on Earth,
influencing satellites and
ground based technological
infrastructure, such as power
grids and communication systems.
Under certain space weather conditions geomagnetic storms can occur, causing the Earth’s magnetic
field to become very active and highly variable. When this happens strong electric currents flow high in
the atmosphere leading to the beautiful phenomenon of the northern lights (called the aurora
borealis).
These strong electric currents in the atmosphere can, however, have more damaging effects on
technology. For example, 6 million people were without power for around 12 hours in Quebec in 1989,
following damage to transformers caused by a severe geomagnetic storm.
What causes storms?
Image credit: K. Turnbull/J. Wild/ESA
Alert!
The biggest geomagnetic storms
are usually associated with
Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs),
which are large clouds of
charged particles thrown from
the Sun, often triggered by large
solar flares.
We tweet a space weather
forecast every weekday on
@BGSspaceWeather
When we’re expecting a storm
big enough to make aurora
visible in the UK we send out an
aurora alert to everyone on our
mailing list and tweet on
When we see a CME directed
towards the Earth we expect
geomagnetic activity and
auroras to follow around 1-3
days later, when the CME hits
the Earth’s magnetic field.
@BGSauroraAlert
Our alerts not only go to the
public but also companies like
National Grid ltd. so they can
make sure the lights stay on.
Not to scale!! Solar images courtesy of SOHO (NASA/ESA) and SDO (NASA)
Sign up to get our alerts at www.geomag.bgs.ac.uk or follow
@BGSauroraAlert
Gemma Kelly